Media, such as audio and video, is often created, stored and distributed in digital formats. Some well-known digital media formats are MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (“MP3”), MPEG-4 Audio, Windows Media Audio (“WMA”), Audio Video Standard (“AVS”), Windows Media Video (“WMV”), RealVideo, etc. A digital media (such as a song, an audio book or a video clip) is generated by a codec that encodes a data stream or signal for transmission, storage or encryption. The codec is an electronic device or computer program that encodes and/or decodes a digital data stream or signal. For example, a digital audio work (such as a song) can be created in Waveform Audio (“WAV”) format. WAV audio data is raw and uncompressed audio data. A MP3 codec is then used to convert the WAV audio data into the MP3 format.
One common way to store the digital audio work in MP3 format is to save it as a MP3 file. The MP3 codec greatly reduces the size of the digital audio work. In other words, the MP3 file of the digital audio work is significantly smaller than the corresponding WAV file. For example, when the MP3 format is at 128 kps (kilobits per second), the MP3 file size is about ten percent of the corresponding WAV file size. When the digital media (such as a MP3 file) is to be played back, it is decoded by a codec into digital data streams or signals. A codec is thus an encoder and a decoder. As used herein, a work (such as a sound track, music video clip, a video clip, etc.), the digital data representing the work (such as encoded data in MP3 format or decoded data) and the medium (such as a MP3 file or streaming of the digital data) for storing or transmitting the work are collectively and separately referred to herein as a digital media (or media for short).
Desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers and mobile smartphones generally are shipped with digital media players (or media player for short) that support well-known digital media formats. In other words, the preinstalled media players are capable of playing back digital media works (such as a local file, downloaded media file from a networked source or streaming media over the Internet) that are encoded in well-known digital media formats. For example, smartphones often provides a music player for playing digital audio (such as MP3 files or WMA streaming audio over the Internet). These smartphones also provide a video player for playing digital video works (such as YouTube videos, MP4 video files or WMV video files). As an additional example, Windows desktop or laptop computers often include the popular Windows Media Player for playing both audio and video media. Various media players are also available for download over the Internet.
Media player usually provide a number of controls for users to manage and navigate playback of digital media. For example, a media player includes a play-pause toggle button for switching between play and pause, a next button for skipping to the next media in the current play list, a next button for going back to the beginning of the currently being played media (i.e., the current media), and a fast forward button for fast forwarding the current playback. The fast forwarding can be configured to skip, for example, ten seconds (also referred to herein as fast forward speed) of the current media for every one tenth of second the fast forward button is continuously pressed and held down. The current media is the media that is currently being played back by the media player. When the fast forward button is pressed and held down for a longer time, the fast forward speed can be designed to accelerate.
Media players may also provide a playback progress control in the form of a progress bar with a sliding control (such as a button or bar). The progress control shows the current playback position within the current media. The current playback position (or current position for short) thus indicates the playback progress. The sliding control allows a user to navigate to a desired position within the media by dragging (using a mouse or touchscreen) the sliding control to the desired position. The desired position can be after or before the current playback position. However, when the media is long (such as a ten-hour-long audio book recording, podcasts, video clips, movies, etc.), a slight adjustment of the position of the sliding control or a quick press of the fast forward button usually causes the media players to jump for a significant amount of time (such as ten or twenty minutes). In other words, a significant amount of the content of the current media is skipped over by the media players. Media players on smartphones usually provide fast forward and remind buttons that adjust media playback by a predefined amount of seconds (such as ten to thirty seconds). Accordingly, it is very difficult for users to accurately navigate the playback to a specific position within the current media. This problem is exacerbated on smartphones due to their smaller physical screens and progress controls. For example, a finger touch on a fast forward button on a smartphone can easily jump for over an hour of an audiobook.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method that accurately navigate media playback to a specific position within a media.